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Female foeticide, killing of unborn females, continues to grow in some rural areas in India where many parents still prefer sons to carry on the family name. A 2011 study showed that up to 12 million Indian girls had been aborted over the last three decades. This is even as pre-natal sex determination has been outlawed in the country.
Now, the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has begged his countrymen and women to stop killing unborn girls, warning that it is raising gender imbalance that have dangerous consequences.
Speaking to a largely female audience in Haryana — the state with the lowest ratio of female to male births, Modi said: “The prime minister of the country is begging you to save the lives of girls.
“We have to change our thinking and stop believing that boys are superior to girls.
“We should change our mentality. We have to urgently create a balance in the sex ratio to bring stability or face the consequences.”
Modi, who spoke as he launched a campaign entitled “Save your daughters, Educate your daughters”, urged doctors to stop performing gender-based abortions and instead use their skills to save lives.